While doing research on Faraday cages for the novel I am currently writing, I found myself trolling the not-so-shadowy underworld of survivalist/preparedness blogs. One word: Wow! I realized that I have been very lax in my maternal duties to stock the house with a year's supply of food, toiletries and medical necessities against this decade's Y2K-like paranoia-inducer: an EMP event. I also stumbled across this silly tidbit of a video. I have never been one to resist the charms of Peeps, in solid state or reduced to goo:

When I was growing up, Peeps, those glorious, fluffy, sugar-coated marshmallow confections, were only sold for a few short weeks before Easter--AND they only came in two basic colors, yellow and pink-- AND one basic shape, the blob of a chick.

A glorious rainbow of original Peeps

Now, of course, they are sold year-round, with shapes associated with every conceivable holiday (although I have yet to see them shaped like flags for 4th of July) and in myriad colors and flavors. And they have become the stars of numerous tableau contests sponsored by newspapers. When I was a wee child, I never saw one in a library. But apparently, 21st Century Peeps are tech-savvy, information-hungry researchers who know their way around a PAC catalog, online databases and the Internet. Don't believe me? Take a look at this.